is taken care of, you can spend more time sharing your passions. wow. [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] with the people who matter most. i love you grandpa! i love you grandma! now you're a real fisherman. [ male announcer ] humana. thanks so much for watching. chris matthews is next. the no-nothings. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with the bone-headed poll numbers just in. i'm not talking about the arithmetic. i'm talking about what it says about some voters out there, especially on the right. catch this. a third of conservative republicans are convinced that the president is a muslim.

a third. less than half believe in global warming. only 2 out of 5 in ohio, for example, believed he was born in the u.s. the rest are to one degree or the other birthers. and just to make you feel a little better about that and let you know how low information these voters are on the right, catch this. two-thirds of republicans say there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq when our troops got there in 2003. do they have amnesia? have they been buried in their basements the last nine years? what explains this many people being so out to lunch they don't even remember how "w," remember him, he was president, blew his whole reason for sending our troops in there in the first place. how can people be so helpless. this may explain why romney is in trouble, people think his party is out of it. joining me is howard fineman and joe klein of the times. let's take a look at the two polls. the two key states ohio and florida. according to "the washington post," president obama has a four-point lead over mitt romney in florida. four points down there in a very

tough state. 51%,/47% for obama. in ohio, the president's lead is a more comfortable eight points. that's dramatic. howard fineman, thank you for joining us, and joe klein of "time" magazine. thank you. it strikes me the numbers i put out tonight, and i'm going to get all through them, shows a party obliterated to reality. she don't seem to watch the news. don't seem to know the huge fight that went on when we realized there was no weapons of mass destruction in iraq. that was the whole reality we lived in, the disillusionment on the right, the confusion in the middle, the anger on the left. they didn't even experience that period of time? >> well, chris, to put a charitably, i think the republican party today is the nostalgia party. that was my sense of it having kind of marinated in their world view down in tampa at the republican convention. they think of a simpler world, a world where the verities they believe in still apply in simple terms. the fact is it's a complex

world. if you just run against government, if the whole thing is i don't want government, i don't believe in government, then you aren't going to participate in the reality of economic life for one in america today. they're the nostalgia party. they would like to believe that the military was correct, that dick cheney was correct about weapons of mass destruction. they would prefer to believe in that -- >> but what evidence do they have that we were right about iraq and wmd? >> they don't. what i'm saying is they want to will themselves into believing authority figures who used to be respected around the country and who no longer are. joe klein, thank you for joining us. sometimes we can simply disagree by looking at the same picture. when you look at something so dem mon straly true, we didn't find weapons of mass destruction, fair enough, they got it wrong. people in the middle say these guys don't know what they're talking about, people on the left say we never thought that was the reason for the war if

the first place, but to not know it, what do you make of these numbers? democrats in this new poll, 63% say there was no weapons of mass destruction. 15% say there were. okay. 1 out of 6 democrats think there might have been. republicans however, 63% of republicans say, yes, there were weapons of mass destruction, almost two-thirds. how do we account for this misstatement of fact? >> well, i think this is a tribute to the persuasive powers of rush limbaugh and fox news and the drudge report and the rest of that echo chamber. you don't hear rush talking about weapons of mass destruction anymore, and i saw this pie chart on andrew sullivan's blog today, something like 93% of the mentions of global warming on fox news knock it down as a real phenomenon. so when you have people living in this hermetically sealed world that does not resemble reality, they wind up believing some very weird things. >> well, when the queen mary

starts making regular trips across the polar ice cap because there's no more polar ice cap, do you think they might notice? has anybody seen the pictures of greenland the other day? there's no snow. >> i agree with joe. i agree that, number one, the republicans are the nostalgia party. they're the simplicity party. they're the -- >> are they lud indicts, anti-science? >> i think if they're convinced, as many of them are, that science is being used as a conspiracy to take away their freedom and take away their independence -- >> i saw that movie, it's called "planet of the apes" and it wasn't a comedy pup. >> we watch fox, we listen to it, that's the message that you get. that the scientists and the bureaucrats are combining to rob us of our freedom. >> so it's basically a fear, it's a fear of everything. take a look at this number though. the infamous birth question, was the president born in the united

states. under our constitution he has to be born here to be president. ohio republican primary voters, 37% they do not think barack obama was born here. just 2 in 5 say the president was american born and, therefore, a legitimate president. when you ask the president's religion, this gets scary. a majority of all voters don't take him at his word. just 49%. this is all voters, say he's a christian, which is what he says he is. and 30% of republicans and 34% of conservative republicans say obama is a muslim. simple as that. here is the point. these bad numbers, saying twice wrong, these 34%, twice what they were four years ago. when he came in people took him at face value. i'm american born, obviously. i got a whole history, it was announced when i was born in honolulu, in all the papers there, and i am what i am, a christian. i go to this church that caused him a lot of trouble. do we remember that? he went to a church, jeremiah wright's church that got him in

all the trouble. why did we change from that to this -- they're all becoming donald trumps, mini trumps. >> my ex lplanation for it is fear. it's not based on a study of genealogical history. it's fear. and among a certain part of this population, this country, which you showed there on the charts, they think that president obama is on a mission to rob the american people of their freedom. >> that's why he killed bin laden. >> yes. >> that's why he's almost destroyed now al qaeda, which you said he would do. >> i'm just saying that's their world view, and the fear expresses itself in the idea that this man must be someone else. he must be another. he must be a hidden person. he must have an agenda that's hidden for some reason. >> yo, i want to point out some things republicans are watching. i just want to point out a couple things. your stock market, 401(k) has doubled. not because of obama, but he

certain didn't get in the way of it doubling. he didn't have some plan to bring down wall street. it's over 13,500 now. these are realities. this should have some role in people's reality. >> the housing market is coming back. consumer debt levels are at all-time lows but i agree with howard. what do you hear most often from these people? we want our america back. well, the america that they're living in now is increasingly minority and it's all these different kind of people, you know, the mini marts are -- the cliche is every mini mart is run by a south asian. there are all these latinos around -- >> pretty good mini markets, actually. i would say the new arrivals in our country are very good at working 24/7 and stocking their store with great, fresh produce that's very healthy for people in many cases. >> the south asians and the koreans, the east asians have been model american immigrants. they're terrific. >> i don't think they have a crime factor at all in most

cases. >> these people look at their grandchildren and see them dating people of different races and they see them becoming gay some of them, and then they look at the president of the united states who doesn't have the good sense to be either black or white and his middle name is hussein, geqed, he's a muslim. >> i like the way you phrased it, becoming gay. >> announcing they are gay. >> joe's point is it's a more complicated world than it was. demographically in terms of all the different ethnic groups, in new york city i think there are 140 or 150 languages spoken in the schools. at the republican convention that waso pie and andy griffith and that was a wonderful thing on tv even though it wasn't real at the time either, and that -- i don't mean to -- it sounds condescending, i'm not trying to be that way.

i wish life were simpler. >> the fear is legitimate. the fear is real. >> i wish my life were simpler. we love the '50s. >> i did too, but a lot of people had no reason to love the 50s. didn't get the civil rights bill through until the '60s. it seems like joe biden is a familiar figure 60 years ago. barack obama, of course, has an exotic name, an freezing rain name. he's not an unusual fellow. these aren't strange personalities. leon panetta is the most common, regular -- someone you would have met 100 years ago. is the democratic party that new age that they scare people. maybe i'm part of that reality. i don't see them as strange at all. >> it goes back to the propaganda factor. it's not just that rush and fox and those guys say something, it's that we say the other thing. if we say that barack obama isn't a muslim, that must not be true because we're the liberal

media, we're the mainstream media, and nothing we can say -- we say can be trusted. >> i have called an anti-posture for years. just saying no to everything. thank you, guys. i think you nailed it. it's psychological. anyway, howard fineman and joe klein, thank you. coming up, it's not ignorance it's cycle. could barack obama be the democrats ronald reagan. there's a big thought. it comes from andrew sullivan and the front cover of news week. he says obama has a chance to transform american politics in the next four years if he gets the next four years. world leaders seek his guidance. presidential candidates don't dare reject his invitations. bill clinton has become president of the world, but today mitt romney also is there genuflecting at the clinton global initiative today. we know who he wants to win the presidency this time, his name is barack obama, and next time her name is hillary rodham clinton. there's been no shortage of reaction to what happened at the end of last night seahawks/packers game. what could make wisconsin governor scott walker become pro

union? how about lousy reffing? we'll be right back. >> the lone receiver to the left. the packers playing at the goal line. as wilson struggles to keep it alive. the game's final play. it's a wilson lob to the end zone which is fumbled by tate with jennings simultaneous. who has it? who did they give it to? touchdown! >> two different signals by two different refs. one result. the anti-union pro-packers governor of wisconsin, scott walker, wants the union reps back on the field after the substitute refs gave that catch and game to seattle. finally let me finish with this republican plan to keep plaques from voting. i'm not going to stop talking about it. it's a shame that the party of lincoln is involved in a multistate effort to keep people who are freed by lincoln from voting. this is haum "hardball," the place for politics. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen,

offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. take a look at this head scratcher of a poll number from the new cnbc poll. on the question of whether the

economy is better off now than it was four years ago, 55% say the economy is worse, just 22% say it's better. yet when asked which candidate is better for the economy, 43% say president obama, 34% -- only 34% say mitt romney. put that one together, those sets of numbers. we'll be right back. yet when asked which candidate

welcome back to "hardball." with just six wetion to go to the election and recent gains in swing states by president obama democrats are allowing themselves to begin think being what a second obama presidential term would be like. what it would look like. latest issue of "newsweek" the cover story is written by andrew sullivan who argues that with a second term president obama could become a transformative president. in fact, among the nation's great presidents. here is something sure to gall republicans, he satisfies president obama could become the democrats ronald reagan. sullivan writes he will emerge as an iconic figure who struggled through a recession and a terrorized world, reshaping the economy within it,

passing universal health care, strafing the ranks of al qaeda, presiding over a civil rights revolution, and then enjoying the fruits of the recovery. with me is andrew sullivan, also theeth tor of the dish and also joining is ari mel bor, a correspondent for the nation. gentlemen, thank you. our main focus is on you and your big brain, andrew, my friend, because it's hard for me to figure out what "newsweek" has been doing the last few months because every front cover is different from the other one. one trashes obama. this one brilliantly i think celebrates the potential of a certain election result. give me your sense, how you got into this idea of even thinking about the next four years given all our focus here at "hardball" and elsewhere on what's going to happen in six weeks. >> because he, the president, has been thinking about it for four years already, and if you have watched him carefully, you have seen he's always played a long game, and part of that long game was always re-election.

most presidents deal with the middle east in the last two years. he started his first go. he inherited the worst recession but he pushed through health care reform at the very beginning. he knew these things would take time, and so he set it up in a way to enable the big payoff to come later, which is a high-risk/high-reward strategy. on the debt, of course, the republicans went nuts and prevented him from getting a sensible grand bargain on this, but, again, he set up the debt ceiling fiasco so we have sequestration coming down december 31st and the end of the bush tax cuts if nothing happens. and even jim demint has now conceded that if obama wins, then they will have to give on taxes. once the republicans give on taxes, we could have the grand bargain if, if, i think, obama wins with a big enough mar begin. >> let's get to that quote by senator demint from south carolina.

we're not going to save our defense unless we go along with the president's wishes to raise taxes on small business. it's not a good choice. i would never support it, but there are enough republicans i think who are so afraid of defense cuts that they would probably give in. let me go to ari. thanks for joining us, ari. my sense is as well as andrew has laid this out, how obama is this visionary and can think three or four years ahead, he must have also counted on an economic recovery kicking in with a lot more steam than we've had which jeopardizes getting to that second term. we have an 8%-plus unemployment rate that looks like it's going to be facing us in the face the day people vote. >> i think that's right. they had hoped the economy would rebound more. they inherited a 750 million per month loss rate and have improved a lot from that as andrew documents in the piece, but they have a longer ways to go. i think the other interesting comparison to ronald reagan is there's two ronald reagans. there was the ronald reagan who worked with democrats, who made

tax reform a priority will you also raised taxes, who signed the federal law that requires that hospitals have to treat poor people when they come into the e.r. ronald reagan worked across the aisle on a lot of things and then there's the ron 23458d reagan we hear about the gop primary debates, a conservative ideologue at never turn. if you talk about the first reagan, obama has tried to follow that path, but he's had less cooperation on offer from the congress. gee didn't -- >> chris, can i make two points about that. >> he didn't want to keep -- >> sorry. that reagan ended his first term with a higher misery index than obama currently has. reagan's recession was also a fairly induced recession in order to ring inflation out of the economy, and it happened and began on his watch. obama inherited a financial collapse recession which of their nature lasts longer, and it happened before he got there. i think that helps explain the

difference. if you look at the gallup poll of approval of reagan and obama, you will see they're the closest of any two presidents in the last 50 years except that reagan sank lower in his first term than obama ever did. he went down to 35%. and obama's highs are less high. so it's still a struggle, i agree, but i think what obama has been able to do is say, look, i'm not giving you sugar high morning in america. i'm telling you we're gritty, back to the basics, rebuilding america, and i know it's tough, but that is finally a different kind of message. people realize that reagan's recovery was the sugar high, and we still had to deal with its debt. >> well, the question i have -- first of all, i'm not sure you're right because paul volcker was appointed fed chair by jimmy carter and he began squeezing the money supply under carter, i know about it, i was there. >> but the recession started in '81. >> you call the misery index. the strongest element is the

unemployment rate up around 8.3%. inflation doesn't help getting rid of it politically if it isn't around. nobody gives you credit for not having inflation. they give you anger if you have -- >> but they were predicting it. every right wing economist was predicting hyperinflation by now because of debt. we have a problem of deflation, but i'm just saying if -- people don't accept that, but they accept he's done the best he can and what's interesting in the polls is that they know it's tough, but they think he's got the better plan to fix it. >> let's talk about the two things we argue about on this show. let's start with immigration. how do you get through a really good immigration bill that has both progress i-in terms of letting people come in the country, recognizing who is already in the country, allowing people to come in on shorter periods of time. how do you put it all on paper and stop the under the table stuff? >> you do it the way reagan did it. you get both parties together and you figure it out. and you do it in the congress.

and the reason we haven't done it is because the republicans have blocked it. and that's the other thing. if republicans lose the latino vote this time by the kind of margins the polls are showing, there are many people in the republican party h karl rove chief among them, jeb bush chief among them, who understands if they alienate this constituency permanently they're headed for minority status forever, a regional minority white party. and they need latinos. so i think there's enough of a group of people, especially in the senate, and possibly even in the house, to actually move immigration forward, and i think obama should make it the first priority. >> i'd like to see some teeth involved with it because they did simpson and the teeth fell out. are you confident as andrew is that there can be some big deal on spending and revenues that the republicans will come to the table -- they'll belly up and say, damn it, obama won twice in a row, we have to deal with him or will they go to the right

having lost a lot of moderates in the next election perhaps, this election coming up, and say, no, we're going to continue with the korched earth policy of bringing this guy down. if we can't keep him from being elected a couple times, we're still going to destroy his legacy. >> i think it depends on the margin. i think if it's considered on the right a narrow re-election for the president, if we post late that hypothetical, then they say, well, the only problem was paul ryan should have been first on the ticket, should have been more conservative, and you know that argument. i think if it's a blowout and these are all ifs, you have a gold water type reassessment, then, yes, a, you have a desire to manufacture, and, b, you have new people in the party like a tet cruz that the president can go out and talk to and say let's be reasonable. you're a tea party guy, but let's do something that people like your parents can have a path to citizenship and -- >> that's a good idea. i'm for that. thank you, gentlemen. andrew sullivan, amazing piece. i will read it several times. >> thank you. >> ari mel ber, thank you.

it took a wild ending for last night's game to get wisconsin governor scott walker to finally side with union workers. that's next in the "sideshow." this is going to be talked about a long time, this bad call. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] with a driving range

of more than 550 miles you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind-spot monitor... [ beeping ] ...that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... as you thought. ♪

and every day since, two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp.

we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. back to "hardball." a lot of buzz about that refs call in last night's game between the packers and the seahawks. >> final play. wilson lob to the end zone. which is fumbled by tate with jennings simultaneous. who was it? who did they give it to? touchdown! >> well, you saw two different calls by the ref. one interception, one touchdown. quite a lot of outrage from people who say the replacement refs should have called that an interception not the touchdown that won the game for seattle. the replacement refs are filling in during the labor dispute.

the onslaught of calls to get the permanent guys back on the field is growing after last night, of course, even from the political people. president obama said earlier today he wants the permanent refs to come back, but a few nuggets from the gop as well. wisconsin governor scott walker, no friend of labor, tweeted, quote, after catching a few hours of sleep, the packers game is still just as painful, with the hash tag return the real refs. paul ryan also a wisconsinite and a packers fan agreed. >> i mean, give me a break. it is time to get the real refs, and you know what? it reminds me of president obama and the economy. if you can't get it right, it's time to get out. i half think that these refs work part time for the obama administration and the budget office. they see a debt crisis and they just ignore and protend it didn't even happen. they're trying to pick the winners and losers, and they don't even do that very well. >> what a cheap exploitation of

something people really care about. anyway, what are the anti-union guys like walker and ryan trying to get the refs back on the field. what bad speech writing. he was reading it off the lectern. next the story of chris christie and a reporter. the first one of the season zwraen way. at oon event yesterday one reporter pressed christie on his state's full foreclosure laws, its policies. >> do you have a follow-up question? >> who who are you by the way? >> jim. >> from where? >> channel 7. i'm not sure that rings true. >> next question. >> this is an urgent -- >> next question. >> why would you blow it off. >> please. >> why would you -- >> do me a favor don't show up once in every blue moon and think you're going to dominate my press conference. thank you very much. >> your agency. >> at that same event christie

down played the effect of the romney's 47% comments racking it up to a bad week for romney but conceding the governor that if the election were tomorrow, that would be a problem. he said that one straight. flackback to 1960. this ad hit the airwaves during kennedy's face-off with nixon. >> kennedy, kennedy. ♪ do you want a man for president who is seasoned through and through ♪ ♪ but not so dog gone seasoned he won't try something new ♪ ♪ a man who's old enough to know but young enough to do ♪ ♪ it's up to you, up to you, it's strictly up to you ♪ >> the 2012 obama version has arrived thanks to a website called write me a jingle. ♪ do you want a man for president who sees him through and through ♪ ♪ but not to doggone seasoned he

won't try something new ♪ ♪ a man who's old enough to do but young enough to do ♪ ♪ it's up to you, it's up to you >> tough not to feel refreshed boo poll tiges a after that one. has anybody been as big a player in the presidential campaign than mr. bill clinton, bubba? both president obama and mitt romney spoke at the clinton global initiative up in new york today and that's ahead. they're all genuflecting to the big guy, elvis. he's back. watching "hardball," the place for politics. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and...

is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are, or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep, and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com

and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news.

i'm sue herera with your cnbc market wrap. a late-day sell-off sinks stocks

today. the dow drops 101 points. the s&p falls 15, and the nasdaq loses 43. caterpillar slid citing the global economy and it was another rough day for facebook which lost more than 2%. meanwhile, september consumer confidence rose to its highest level in seven months. and home prices ticked up for a sixth straight month in july, that according to the s&p case-shiller report. now back to chris and "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." one thing came through loud and clear today at the clinton global initiative up in new york, bill clinton is the man to see. he's the boss of the democratic party. he's so influential even the candidate of the poe opposing party, mitt romney, took tame

away to attend his big event. president obama, too, praised the former president. let's listen to president obama. >> i am grateful for your friendship and your extraordinary leadership, and i think i speak for the entire country when we say that you continue to be a great treasure for all of us. [ applause ] >> so what will the power of bill clinton mean for the 2012 election looking ahead for six weeks and beyond? john heilemann is new york magazine national affairs editor and an msnbc contributor. and i must give you congratulations, john. i was out there with you, you and mark halperin wrote the book that picked up four, count them, four emmys this weekend, this sunday night. we all watched. it must be amazing to be part of a show that included that first hour or so of that show and then it got intellectual when you got up there. it was pretty impressive. congratulations. it's all part of television. susan page, thank you. i'm sure you'll get your emmy come day for front page reporting with "usa today."

let me ask you about a game changing situation. i know you don't want to give away your next book. it seems bill clinton's speech in charlotte not only changed the political sort of feel but people gab to feel coming ou the of that according to some polling i have seen feeling better about the economy objectively. >> yes. >> tell me about that. >> i think hugely important that speech. i think in a way even conservatives have ok nageed the speech was kind of a game changing moment in the election. he did two different things. i mean, he really did lay out the choice with incredible clarity. he laid out the argument for the fact that it really refuted in a very powerful, concrete way and answered the question that the obama campaign was having trouble answering, which was are you better off now than you were four years ago. he said yes and let me show you why. that was huge. there's a lot of polling that suggested that the bunch that president obama got out of the convention was almost all due to bill clinton. you now see him almost like a running mate if you look at the obama ads.

you see obama ads across the country, president clinton is in almost all of the ones that are running heavily in the swing states right now, and they run -- the video runs back-to-back at the end of the ads. you see president clinton speaking, president obama speaking. it's almost as if they are running mates. that's how powerful the obama complain thinks bill clinton is as a kind of champion of the notion that in fact things are on the right track. >> susan, i want to you look at a short bite from the great daily show which won its tenth emmy i think the other night. here is jon stewart and he talked about -- it was an understated reference to clinton tour de force in charlotte. >> so give any good speeches lately? >> susan, that is now so well-known that that speech was so good that all stewart, who is brilliant at this, just teases that. >> you know, it's really remarkable. remember, these are two men, barack obama and bill clinton,

who, you know, have a history and not a good one. they have a history as being rivals, some bitterness from the primary battle four years ago, and yet if president obama wins a second term, some of the credit is going to go to bill clinton, and you saw in the interview that president obama did with "60 minutes" on sunday, he said here is a quality i admire in presidents i have studied who are successful, persistence, it's an underrated virtue. who do you think he was talking about. there's no person in public life who has been more persistent than bill clinton in getting knocked down and getting right back up. >> and that is the key. oliver wendell holmes said you can't change everything in your life, but you can have a big heart, you can keep trying. this sunday bill clinton was noncommittal in his way on whether hillary will run to 2016. he left no doubt that he thinks she's in the right job now and, of course, we know what he's thinking about the future. let's watch him in action. >> i just don't know.

she's an extraordinarily able person. i never met anybody i thought was a better public servant, but i have no earthly idea what she'll decide to do. >> you know he's really good at that. john, i just -- i find him so fascinating to watch. just to listen to him and his iq must be in the 200 range and he's there saying what he knows he has to say, don't speak for her, she's an autonomous figure, happened to be married to him, but she's a politician in her own right. don't preclude anything she does but i thought it was very much a cheerful message about her. >> well, look, infrastructure clearly wants his wife to run for president in 2016. i don't think there's any doubt about that. i spent the day today over at cgi and there's a lot of the old clinton network around that operation. you talk to those folks, there's a lot of people who want her to run. they don't have any doubt that president clinton wants her to run, that he thinks she would be a great president, he thinks she's been a great secretary of state. i think president clinton is speaking the truth when he says he doesn't know what she's going to do. i think she has made a very

conscious decision, even with the people closest around her, to say i'm not talking about that right now, i'm not thinking about that now. i want to take some time off. i think the question becomes a year from now when she's ahead of every democrat in every poll by 50 points and she's seen as being the only one who can raise the kind of money you would need to be able to run, whether she if she decides to get in, she clears the field with anyone else. i don't see any other democrat in position to take her on. >> speaking from my native state, pennsylvania, shaeld win with 70% against anybody. let's take a look at her speech today because i think at the global initiative i think she's trying to do very subtly a little help to the president. here she is talking away about i am balance of power and the wealth and the elite, how they don't carry their weight around the world in a way she's very supportive of what the president has been say being tax fairness. >> one of the issues that i have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every

country. you know, i'm out of american politics, but it is a fact that around the world the elites of every country are making money. there are rich people everywhere, and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries. >> so susan, was she talking about argentina, borneo, or the good old u.s. of a. i think she was doing some home consumption there. >> that doesn't seem like such a subtle message to me. i assume hillary clinton runs in four years because why shouldn't she? any man in that situation would be running. joe biden is talking about running, and, you know, here is a change from four years ago. four years ago when she ran we thought of bill clinton as a mixed blessing, a guy who carried some baggage. what do we think we'll think about him in four years. it seems to me he's going to be probably a total asset for her

if and when she decides to make another bid. >> we'll see. you know, he's always the comeback kid and he always has to be. so maybe he's made his final comeback. it's an awful big one. you're right, susan, but you never know. john heilemann, susan page, thank you both. up next, today is national voter registration day. couldn't be more important given all this voter suppression out there. let's find out how the democrats are fighting back against that republican effort in so many states, 17 of them suppress the minority vote. this is "hardball," the place for politics. hink it was anythi. i had pain in my abdomen... it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. oh, hey alex.

just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. look! she wears the scarlet markings! [ man ] out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ man ] it's evil! if you'd try it, you'd know. she speaketh the truth! [ crowd gasps ] [ woman ] reverend? ♪ can i have some? ♪

we're exactly six weeks out from the election right now. today nate silver of the "new york times" crunched the numbers to see what the polls tell us about which which this race is headed. since 1936 of the 19 presidential candidates who led in the polls at this point in the campaign, 18 of the 19 won the popular vote, 17 won the electoral college. the exceptions, tom dewey and poor al gore back in 2000. if you eliminate the candidates with double digit leads at this point, the front-runner's record is 8 wins out of 10. a winning percentage of 80%. so where they stand now is very important. we'll be right back. this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing.

machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪

for real. ...that make a real difference. my name is adam frucci and i'm the i love new technology,om. so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far.

we cannot let anyone discourage us from casting our ballots. we cannot let anyone make us feel unwelcome in the voting booth. it is up to us to make sure that in every election, every voice is heard and every vote is counted. that means making sure our laws preserve that right. >> wow. welcome back to "hardball." that was michelle obama speaking at the congressional black caucus this saturday night. she was referring to the concerted effort since 2010 of course to make it more difficult to vote, especially minoritiemi. this map shows the 17 states where laws have been passed since then making it tougher to vote now than it was in the last -- harder than the last election. so this year it's even more important that everyone who is eligible to vote i think get registered to vote and fight for that right to vote. today is national voter reg strikes day in this country. it's a two-pronged effort to get people register nded and make sure people know what sorts of

documentation they need to vote on election day or earlier. mark morel is the president of the urban league and sponsored the national voter registration day, victoria is an nbc latino contributor. i want to talk, mark, thank you so much for coming on. here is your chance to make the case to people who might be disillusioned or discouraged because they've heard about disillusioned or discouraged because they heard of the sue expressi suppression. >> let's not be discouraged, pushed back, even though there's been a tremendous effort to make it more difficult for people to vote. we want to encourage people to register. we want to encourage people who believe they are registered to check their reg registration, make sure they know what the requirements are. 17 states passed law. of 17 states where laws have been passed, we waged a vigorous effort to stop those laws in

their tracks. this is about democracy and this is about the right to vote. we shouldn't make it more difficult. we should make it simple and clear and plain for people to be able to register and participate in democracy. >> victoria, let's talk about latino and latino vote and the feelings they as minorities facing this onslaught of new days, new dates, closed doors, closed windows to voting. >> it's a steep hurdle for millions of people. let's take for example the photo i.d. laws. 60% of latinos do not have the requisite documents to vote with a photo i.d., compare that to 6% of nonlife latinos. >> naturalized, born here but they -- >> absolutely. >> what reason would they have for not having it, a photo i.d. card? >> first of all, the cost of getting that identification. here in texas where they tried

to pass a stringent rule, it's very hard to get to a dmv if you're a rural latino voter. they say, it's a free photo i.d. what they don't tell you, it costs you up to $22 to get a birth certificate in order to get that free photo i.d. one way ort other -- >> it's like a poll tax? >> exactly. >> it is a poll tax. >> exactly a poll tax. >> let me ask you about this -- the -- do you have a sense, mark, whether this was -- i don't know if conspiracy is the right word but concerted effort in these states and i think the democrats weren't watching the candy store when all these people got elected. were they all working together when this -- >> this was an orchestrated, planned attack. an orchestrated planned avalanche that took place. you had groups like american legislative exchange council who were behind this. you had large numbers of people who determine that it was part of the 2012 strategy to make it

more difficult for people to vote. we need to understand that there have been scant cases of voter impersonation in this country, that have turned up. this is a solution looking for a problem. this is a set of legislative initiatives behind a phoney smoke screen of voter fraud. we want people to understand what it is. we want people to be informed. we want people to vote. >> here's congressman -- the great congressman john lewis, civil rights hero. he was talking at voter registration event in georgia today, encouraging people to fight voter suppression. he's been great on this. let's listen. >> there are forces in america today, not just in the american south, but all across our land, that is trying to make it hard and difficult for people to register and vote, for people to cast their vote. for all across america today, members of the congressional black caucus at this hour and later during the day, are doing

the same thing. but we have 44 members in each congressional district. we have until what, october 9th? to get people registered. >> you know, victoria, it seems to me the worst thing that could come of this con certifieded effort of 17 states to try to close the door to americans and legitimate voters is people say no to themselves. i was at howard to the commencement, i said to the kids, don't ever say no to yourself. i'm afraid more people -- mark, they would say, this is going to be the biggest pain in the butt, too complicated, i'm not going to go this year, even if it's obama. is that a danger out there, they'll be intimidated out of voting? >> it's a danger. the irony of it is is that we're not using technological advances to automate our systems. a handful of states have used automated registration systems where i can go online and

register to votes. the bulk of the states are going in i retrogress of manners. this is most frustrating to me on this day of national voter registration. >> chris, you know, there are many of us across the nation who have campaigns and efforts. ours is called occupy the vote. we have a website that provides information that people need. we have a hot line people can go to at 1-866-vote-one. we need everyone that loves freedom, understands democracy and understands that voting is the foundation of democracy, to get out there and make sure people are not frustrated. >> we'll have you back, mark. we want this message out, too, almost as much as you. thank you, mark of urban league and victoria, who work with us. we'll be right back in a minute. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times.

good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a reason to look twice. the entirely new lexus es and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. the entirely new lexus es and the first-ever es hybrid. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students.

let's solve this. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.

let me finish with this. we've said it before and we'll say it again. the republican party should be ashamed of trug to suppress voting of african-americans. 17 states have required more documents or shut down voting opportunities. it's a multistate effort you have to be wonder is run out of the national republican committee itself. if not, they might get out there and think about condemning it. i think that will happen when hell freezes over. knees are organized campaigns by republican-controlled legislatures at the state level with the single ambition to cut down on voting by